With the increasing mobility of today's society, the demand for mobile computing capabilities has also increased. Many workers and professionals are downsizing their laptop computers to smaller palm-top or hand-held devices, such as personal digital assistants (PDAs). In addition, many people now utilize wireless devices, such as cellular telephones, to access the Internet and to perform various other computing functions. Wireless devices may include, but are not limited to, personal digital assistants (PDAs), cellular telephones, pagers, and communicators. Many wireless devices also utilize the Microsoft® Windows® CE and 3Com Palm® Computing platforms. With the advent and development of wireless telecommunications systems and technologies, wireless Internet access is increasing worldwide. Wireless Internet access is conventionally obtained by users of wireless devices via Wireless Service Providers (WSPs).
On-line advertising has become an important source of revenue for many commercial entities. Web pages served from commercial Web sites often utilize advertising to promote various goods and services. On-line advertising via the internet conventionally involves the use of “banner” advertisements within Web pages. A banner advertisement conventionally is an advertisement in the form of a graphic image of a designated pixel size and byte size limit that typically runs across a Web page or is positioned in a margin or other space reserved for ads. When a user views a web page displaying a banner advertisement, the user may then try to find out more information regarding the advertisement (or the business entity providing the advertisement) by selecting the advertisement (“clicking through” on the banner ad) through the use of a mouse or other pointing device.
Conventional advertising via the Internet is a client-server process, as illustrated in FIG. 1. Conventionally, a client (e.g., a Web browser or microbrowser executing on a client device 10) sends a request for content (e.g., a Web page) to a server executing on a server-hosting device (e.g., a Web server 20). The server returns the requested Web page to the client and directs the client to a separate ad server 22 in order to obtain an advertisement to be inserted within the Web page. Conventionally, a client receives the Web page and then waits for an advertisement to be served from a designated ad server for placement within the Web page.
Conventionally, Web servers impose restrictions on advertisements that prevent advertisements from being stored locally (i.e., “cached”) by client devices. By preventing caching, advertisements are allowed to change and rotate independently of the content within which they are placed. For example, a client may make multiple requests for the same content; however, different advertisements may be placed within the content at each separate request.
Conventionally, Web servers invoke some logic by which advertisements are selected for inclusion within user-requested content. For example, a Web server may use information about a user making a client request and/or about a user request being made to determine what advertisement to place within user-requested content. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 2, a user makes a request 13 to a Web server 20 via a client device 10 (e.g., a cellular telephone, PDA, or other type of wireless device). The Web server 20 includes logic for selecting an advertisement to be included within the requested content. A selected advertisement can be retrieved from a database and returned to the client with the content (i.e., in the response 15). Alternatively, the client can be directed to make a request 17 for an advertisement from an ad server 22. The ad server 22 serves the advertisement 19 to the client for insertion within the content provided by the Web server 20. Wireless content publishers also may provide advertisements within user-requested content, often as interstitial displays within a sequence of content displays (cards).
However, in advertising, it is considered highly desirable to target advertisements and other promotional efforts to specific consumers (often referred to as “direct marketing”), rather than to broadcast advertisements to consumers in general, such as via banner advertising. By targeting advertising to individual consumers, it is believed the likelihood is increased that a consumer will read and act upon such advertising. As such, various efforts have been made to implement direct marketing via e-mail transmitted over the Internet in order to deliver customized advertising to targeted consumers.
Unfortunately, public opinion regarding unsolicited e-mail (often referred to as “spam”) may have dampened somewhat the effectiveness and success of conventional direct marketing campaigns conducted via e-mail. Moreover, successful direct marketing campaigns typically require specific information about consumers that are being targeted. Unfortunately, previous direct marketing efforts may have been somewhat unsuccessful in obtaining information sufficient to conduct effective direct marketing campaigns, particularly to users of wireless devices. As the use of handheld computing/communications devices increases (e.g., PDAs, pagers, cellular telephones, web-enabled radiotelephones, and/or other mobile/wireless devices), commercial entities are continuously looking for new ways to enhance revenue via the delivery of advertising and other information to users of these handheld devices.